Giveaway: CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life

by Bethany Imondi

**Giveaway Closed - 11/1/11**

Jessie Oleson and I could be best friends. We both are obsessed with sweets; we both could eat dessert any time of the day; and we both hate to see any desserts go uneaten. Where Jessie and I differ, however, is our dessert imagination. While the majority of my treat ideas have remained sweet dreams, Jessie, aka Cakespy, is not afraid to transform such dreams into reality.

Author of the blog Cakespy, Jessie has become renowned on the blogosphere for indulging our collective fantasies with mouth-watering, over the top recipes. Now with the release of CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life, anyone can satisfy their sweet tooth day and night from an array of creative recipes. For a breakfast of champions, why not try Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict? Feeling adventurous? Then consider making homemade conversation hearts and candy corn for their respective holidays. And since nothing should be left on a dessert plate except crumbs, Cakespy suggests decadent ways to transform leftovers, such as Grilled Cheesecake and Red Velvet Cake Shake.

In her book, Jessie writes, “I strive to bring a sense of fun and fearlessness to baking, and I hope this book will inspire you to do the same.” To encourage such inspiration, last week Cakespy kicked off her first virtual blog tour by inviting different bloggers to comment and try out her recipes. As the ninth stop on the tour, I wanted to prepare something that would appeal to college students’ unique food preferences while also being relatively easy and inexpensive.

Perhaps not as cliche as college students’ relationship with ramen noodles, students love the convenience and cheap taste of pop tarts. In her book, Cakespy includes a recipe for Homemade Toaster Treats that is easy enough for even the baking-challenged. Requiring simple ingredients and just a little elbow grease, the recipe produces buttery and flaky pastries that can be filled with almost anything, and so in my case I chose to fill them with Nutella. Although my attempt at the treats required a little extra milk and a few extra minutes in the oven, the results were scrumptious. As Cakespy says, “this version doesn’t fare as well in the toaster, but it sure has a leg up on either commercial variety in the deliciousness department.”

To Catch the Rest of Cakepsy’s Virtual Tour, check out these sites:
October 10—Cupcake Project
October 11—Bake It in a Cake!
October 12—Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
October 13—Dessert First
October 14—Cookie Madness
October 15—Bake and Destroy
October 16—Piece of Cake
October 17—Not Martha
October 20—Blondie and Brownie

Read on for a sneak peak at one of the recipes, and comment below for a chance to win a copy of her book! To enter the Sweet Treats for a Life giveaway, you must:

• Leave a comment below and tell us about your fantasy dessert
• Be a subscriber to the SKC newsletter
• Become a fan of our Facebook Page
• (Extra Entry) Tell your facebook fans about this contest – post the link and @Small Kitchen College
• (Extra Entry) Tweet about this contest @BGSKCollege

We’ll announce the randomly selected winner next week on the blog. Good luck!

Bethany Imondi, a junior studying Government and English at Georgetown University, dreams about living in Candy Land to climb Gum Drop Mountain and to explore the Candy Cane Forest. Read more…

**Recipe**

Homemade Toaster Treats
Makes 6 to 8 pastries

Ingredients:

For the pastry:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into cubes (can use half shortening)
3 tablespoons cold milk

For the filling:
6 to 8 tablespoons jam, preserves, peanut butter, chocolate, ganache, or other filling of your choice

For the icing:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons extra as needed
Sprinkles, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 450º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and cut it into the flour using two forks or a pastry cutter. Blend until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk bit by bit, gently mixing the dough after each addition, until the dough forms a ball (you may not need all of the milk).

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it into a large rectangle about ½-inch thick. Cut out rectangles approximately the size of index cards (3 by 5 inches) or smaller if you prefer a more modest portion. Make sure you have an even number of cutouts.

Transfer half of the rectangles to your prepared baking sheet (if they are hard to handle, use a spatula to transfer the pieces).

On these rectangles, place a tablespoonful of your filling of choice in the center. Add a second rectangle on top of each piece, pressing down gently to spread the filling towards the edges.

Crimp all four edges with the tines of a fork to ensure that the filling doesn’t ooze out. Poke the top of each with the fork to allow the steam to vent.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely.

While the pastries cool, prepare the icing: In a medium bowl, mix the confectioner’s sugar with just enough cream to make a glaze that is thick but still pourable. Drizzle it over the pastries. Garnish with sprinkles immediately after drizzling with glaze.

Recipe Index Keywords:

Categories: Blog, Eating, Giveaways & Products, and Recipes.
Cooking Method: In the Oven.
Mealtime: Dessert, Early Bird, and Snacktime.
I Don't Have Any: Cooking Skill and Money.
I'm Cooking For...: Brunch.
Type of Food: Sweets.
I Don't Eat: Meat.